Don’t close the commissaries

Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.: The notion that the Pentagon would close all stateside military commissaries to trim the defense budget is outrageous.

It is an affront to active duty military personnel and their families, as well as retirees and survivors. Commissaries help them all stretch their incomes and are a benefit of service to this nation that should not be tampered with.

Military commissaries, which save their patrons as much as 30 percent on purchases, should not be used as a bargaining chip between the Department of Defense and Congress over funding.

We wholeheartedly agree with Mississippi’s two U.S. senators:

Thad Cochran: “I disagree with the notion that closing base commissaries or raising charges to service members should be used to cut the budget of the Department of Defense. . punishing those who have served in the military and who may be called upon to risk their lives for our freedom and security is not justified.”

Roger Wicker: “Commissaries play an important role in the lives of active-duty military personnel, military retirees and their families.”

A military family’s shopping cart is not the place to dump the nation’s fiscal woes.